It FINALLY HAPPENED.

Olivia's front tooth had been hanging on by a thread for over a week and finally on Saturday with a little help from Uncle Ray it came out. Interestingly I have been a nurse for 24 years yet the thought of assisting with teeth removal makes my skin crawl. I was glad we had backup---- Thanks Uncle Ray
Life has been moving along and things have been going well. My new job is going along and although the longer days were an adjustment in the beginning much better now. We are now counting the days until our disney trip for Thanksgiving in November. We were hoping that we would be traveling as a family of four but that was not to be.
Our refingerprinting for immigration clearance was completed 10/2/08 so we are now waiting for our i171 approval. We only have two more documents for the dossier to get and they are both in the works. Once we receive the approval we will send them off the the dossier preparer she will get all the county clerk and department of state authentications. Prior to her having them DOS certified she will scan them to the adoption agency for translation to begin while the originals are being certified which should help move along the process. From there they go to the Kygr embassy in Washington then onto kyrgz ministry for final approval by adoption committee. Then we are officially "waiting" and can receive a referral at that time. I am getting excited again at the prospect and can actually picture another member of our family.
We will keep everyone posted and hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather

Our Beautiful Girl Is Seven Today

Olivia turned seven today. Hard to believe. We had a very busy but wonderful weekend celebrating. Saturday we had a school friends party with 12 little girls they made beaded bracelets,had their nails done and face painting. It was great for Olivia to have all her school friends and family here,apparently Barbie is the theme of the day because we now have more of them then we can count but she is loving all her gifts and was up at 6;30am today to start playing with them YEAH!!!
Right after that our family arrived for the family party.It was great to have all the kids together and fortunately the weather held up so they could be outside for a little while.Clothes for fall was the theme of this party(Mommy was excited).I am so amazed how into clothes Olivia is, I know I didn't care this much when I was seven.
Olivia's adoption day holds more memories for me than her birthday,I do however on this day think about Olivia's birthmother. I hope she knows what a beautiful gift she gave us. Olivia is the bright light in our life. She makes us smile and laugh every single day and ,especially at birthdays I am so grateful for the gift of her. I know her birthmother thinks of her today and I wish she could know that I think of her too.
Our I171 extension with homestudy has been filed and we are paperchasingm we have hired a dossier preparation service this time around to make the process easier for me. I am grateful for her and we move full steam ahead.I'll keep you all posted.

Well It's Official

September first came and went without much fanfare, I don't know what I expected I guess maybe a small part of me hoped there would be some final hour reprieve. That was not to be. Our Vietnam adoption journey ended officially along with countless other families dreams. I am saddened and I guess feeling a loss for the promise of a child from Vietnam we will not have. Throughout this journey I have always pictured in my mind a child who looked just like Olivia. What also saddens me is to think of the children in Vietnam who might not have homes. People often comment to me how lucky Olivia is that we adopted her I always reply that what we received from her is tenfold what we have given to her, Yet I do think about the life she may have had in Vietnam and it saddens me because she is so bright and so full of life and promise and she may not have had that had she stayed in Vietnam.I hope for the children that are there who are legally and legitimately looking for families there can be a quick resolution although I am doubtful.We now look forward to better days ahead and hopefully a process that moves along without many speedbumps.
Olivia is off the second grade today and was nervous anxious and excited all in one. She had a hard time falling asleep last night,was up in the middle of the night(very unusual) and wide awake raring to go at 6am. We all know how quickly that wears off.Her 7th birthday party plans are in full swing and she is counting the days. We hope that everyone's first days of school go off without a hitch and we keep everyone posted as our adoption journey continues.

More Summer Fun

My family had their summer swim championships a few weeks ago and as you can see from the pictures they all did very well. We were very proud of them and they were thrilled with their medals. As you can see Olivia got a gold and a silver medal, we were watching the Olympics and she was saying her medals looked just like the ones Michael Phelps won and of course Steve and I agreed. We are so proud of her, swimming is very early on Saturday mornings and Olivia doesn't always like to get up but she does despite some of the moaning and groaning
We are in full gear for back to school and looking forward to the first day. We just have a few more things on the supply list and she will be ready. I interviewed for a position within my company and found out last week that I got the job. I will now be working a three day workweek and this position is in the office as a coordinator. I am looking forward to the change and the new challenge. Olivia will have to got to aftercare at school for those three days which will be an adjustment for her as she is used to me being home to get her off the bus, but I am sure she will be fine.
As far as the adoption goes we have received the contract and will be signing this week we were much more cautious this time and went through it with a fine tooth comb. I guess we are a little nervous, as most of the monies we had paid for the Vietnam adoption were lost. We still are moving ahead, once the contract is signed will receive the packet with the actual paperwork requirements and off we will go. That is all for now. Hope all is well with everyone.Enjoy the last days of summer

Summer Family Fun

We spent the day yesterday at John and Alice's house for a family bbque complete with a recipe smackdown. The food was great as was the company.The kids (alot of them( had a great time in the pool and were only out for  long enough to quickly eat. Olivia had a wonderful time playing with her cousin Connor as well as swimming with all her cousins. Our family from California were in town and it is always great to see them. Their oldest son James begins NYU in the fall he is a credit to his parents and I know they are very proud of him. For the recipe contest I made Grammie's famous crumbcake and we were in a  three way tie for third place. This was the first time I had I had seen many of my family members since the most recent adoption news. It is always wonderful to feel their love and support for us. I am always reminded how many people are also invested in our journey, and how much we appreciate everyone's encouragement. I'll end with some pictures of the day. Enjoy the rest of the summer.

Homestudy Update Done--Step One

Well our homestudy update is done.  Our social worker from New Beginnings was here today and it will be available by Thursday for the new agency. Maureen has done three homestudies for our family so she is like family at this point. It is so funny to me to remember how nervous I was when she came to do Olivia's homestudy. My house was never so clean and will never be that clean again. We did clean this morning but nothing like the first time. Olivia was excited to show her the "Fashion Designs" she has been doing and Maureen ver kindly and patiently looked at ALL of them. Our next step is to begin the paperwork collection for the dossier. We are waiting to get the requirements from the agency then we will move ahead. We keep moving forward I am getting more confident that this will happen with each step. I really wish I had that crystal ball to tell me when. Does anyone know where I can find one?

A New Month--- A New Beginning

Steve and I found out a few weeks ago that an adoption from Vietnam was not going to be possible. In essence the Vietnamese Government had stopped issuing referrals despite verbal assurances that they would continue over the summer. Needless to say this has been a difficult time for us as we struggled with the decision to continue or not.  After much soul searching we have decided to continue and are now pursuing adoption from Kyrgyzstan. Unfortunately all of the paperwork we completed will need to be redone in the interest of time because all of our original documentation is still in Vietnam it will all be returned but who knows when.  So with renewed energy we begin again as we pursue this dream of child number two for our family.

Please keep us in your thoughts and we will update as we move along the process.